Mind (the) Game

by Kelly Shade

  “You never forget your one true love!” Rachael put her arm around Caleb’s shoulders “I can see you already know that. Looking at you two I can say you also would wait for each other if something happens.” Finished Rachael.

  Ryan didn’t say anything to that statement. He just shook his head in agreement and awkwardly looked away through the window.

  “We are not together!” Jane explained.

  “Yet.” Said Caleb.

  “The wine is amazing! What is it?” Ryan hurried to change the subject.

  They talked until the night fell and they couldn’t keep their eyes open anymore. It turned out that Anthony is an uprising music star, he was singing and playing a guitar. At the evening he played some of his own songs to them and he was pretty good. At last, all of them headed to their beds on the second floor.

  Jane was settled in a nice bedroom next to Ryan’s.

  That night Jane fell asleep easily and slept dreamlessly until the morning. When she woke up at seven am, she went downstairs and was surprised to see that everyone except Anthony were there. Breakfast and a cup of coffee were waiting for her at the kitchen island.

  “Morning!” she said and sat on the only one free barstool next to Ryan.

  “Good morning, Jane!” greeted Rachael with a smile.

  “Where is Anthony?” Jane asked.

  “At school.” Said Caleb while yawning.

  They had a nice breakfast together and even though Jane and Ryan wanted to stay more, they had to say goodbye. Blake and Gray had to be in LA to meet up with Strut and finish what they had started.

  Caleb’s limo drove them to the airport. Jane and Ryan said farewell to the driver, who was extremely polite and kind, and walked towards the terminal.

  Laughing and talking excitedly, Ryan and Jane weren’t looking where they were going and soon enough Jane bumped into a man and spilled her coffee all over him.

  “I am so sorry!” Jane apologized and kneeled to take her empty paper cup off the ground.

  “It’s okay!” said a familiar voice.

  Jane stood up and slowly lifted her eyes to the man. With fear she realized that this was Johnathan. He was wearing a suit and caring a black suitcase which now had coffee all over it.

  “You!” Jane exclaimed.

  “Me, Blake, me!” smiled J “Looking good!”

  “Get away!” Jane tried to move forward but he stood in front of her.

  “Jane?” said Ryan questioningly.

  “Oh, now I can see why you’re running!” said J nastily “You didn’t share our little secret with your boyfriend!”

  “He is not my boyfriend, and I don’t want to deal with you!” Jane spoke trough her teeth.

  “Come on, Blake I know you enjoyed our time together.” J continued.

  “Why did you hacked my phone? What did you hoped to get?” Jane decided that if she can’t move at least she should get some useful information.

  “Your phone?” J was genuinely surprised.

  “So you didn’t.” murmured Jane to herself.

  “Blake, I wanted to warn you. It is better if you and your team stop digging.” J said this time with a serious tone “Leave Morse, he is finished anyway.”

  “What do you know?” Jane grabbed his tie.

  “You are always sexy when you’re mad.” J teased again, Jane pi his tie so hard that he choked.

  “Okay, okay!” J grabbed her arm and removed it with ease. “I’m just giving you an advice, you don’t need to listen to me!”

  “Why should I?” Jane crossed her hands, totally ignoring Ryan who was staring at her puzzled. “You are a liar.”

  “So are you, Blake! We are thieves, con artists, it is our job to lie!” J said slowly, he was enjoying the fact that he made her mad.

  “If you’re not going to tell me anything worth it, why are you keeping me here?” Jane asked madly.

  “Because, Jane, I missed you!” J said, Ryan made a grimace but before he could speak J continued “There is nothing more dangerous than a criminal with a badge, Jane! If you keep digging you will be in grave danger, so will be this blonde with you! The people responsible for everything are high, very high, Blake.”

  “It doesn’t matter! I’ll finish what I’ve started!” Jane said and walked by him. Ryan after her.

  “Even the one who are thought to be dead stay down, Blake! You have no chance alone!” J yelled after her.

  “She is not alone!” Gray shouted back.

  “Keep it down, bro! You are not for the big league!” J said with hatred.

  “Go to hell, bro!” Ryan got mad too.

  “You don’t have a chance with her, blondie! You are too different!” J teased and walked away.

  Ryan and Jane went on the plane silently. Blake was too annoyed to talk and Ryan didn’t want to show his jealousy again.

  Almost at the end of the flight Gray dared to speak.

  “Where do you know that guy?”

  Jane didn’t talk at first. She was trying to decide if she should tell Ryan the truth. Gray waited patiently for an answer.

  At last Jane decided to tell him everything. She didn’t want to continue lying to Gray, she didn’t want him to think of her as the thief she used to be. She wanted his trust and with lies she couldn’t earn it. It was hard at the beginning but Gray was listening calmly and Jane was able to tell the whole story. She missed the kiss part but at the end she mentioned it.

  “I know this is just another proof for you that I do everything for a con, but I wanted to be honest.” Jane finished “You decide for yourself.”

  “Whatever you did and whatever you do, I know it is because you had to.” Ryan successfully hid the irritation “Thank you for telling me the truth! I appreciate it!”

  “Thank you for the understanding!” said Jane.

  Blake looked at him and she felt that connection they had at the beginning. She remembered how sweet Ryan was, she remembered how much he meant to her. But why was it so hard for her to be honest, why was it so difficult to be a team player?

  Blake sank into her thoughts until the end of the flight. Ryan didn’t bother her, he was also staring with empty eyes, wandering in his cloud castle.

  Chapter 15

  Undercover

  As soon as Ryan and Jane arrived at LAX, they took their parked cars and headed to Playa Del Mar Hotel. There they dressed up, then took the rental car and drove to meet Donald Strut at the ‘Mad Mouth’ private club.

  Again they were greeted by the ginger headed biker and welcomed to the back room with the red velvet couch.

  There they saw Strut, half-drunk, with his head in his hands.

  “What is wrong?” Jane said with a fake concern in her voice.

  “You were right!” lisped Strut “Branco is a traitor! My right hand! I took him of the street! I raised him as a son!” Strut yelled, then he grabbed the half-full bottle of whiskey which was on the table in front of him and threw it against the wall with all of his strength.

  “I know it is tough but that’s the life we chose!” Jane sat next to Strut and spoke quietly “And now we have the opportunity to grow our businesses!”

  “You are right!” Strut said loudly and ordered another bottle of whiskey. “But I have to move! Branco maybe ratted all of our locations out to the feds.”

  “Come to Miami!” Jane said as if it was a sudden idea that came to her. “Seriously, I need more people!”

  “Miami?” Strut repeated drunkenly.

  “Miami!” confirmed Jane with a smile and got closer to him.

  “Why not, indeed!” said Strut, Ryan looked at Jane with amazement.

  Blake put her hand on Strut’s leg with the words “There we have really decent hotels if you’d like to keep your part of the deal!”

  “Oh, yes?” Strut put hand over hers.

  “Mhm!” Jane said with a devious look in her eyes.

  “Okay, then!” Strut stood up with difficulty “Gather all my stuff and order the boys t
o load all the trucks. We are moving to Miami with Miss Amanda Fernandez!” he finished and added to Jane “Write the address to my men here!” he handed her an old pack of cigarettes and a pen.

  Jane did it and after Strut made his final orders to the bikers he sat back on the couch next to her with the words. “With which car would you like us to travel?”

  “Us?” Jane asked.

  “I’m not leaving you out of my sight , Amanda!” Strut said with an ugly smile.

  “Um, yours. Mine is a rental.” Jane improvised.

  Ryan looked at her completely terrified but there was nothing else Jane could do except keeping him out of trouble.

  “Henry, go return the car, gather the luggage from the hotel and take the next flight to Miami! I want you to prepare everything at the mansion for our guests!” she said pompously then added hoping Ryan would get the hint “Tell Eric that his stuff is with me!” Jane saw Ryan was staring the ground and she decided to use that to tell something which would make the hint clearer. “Listen to me when I’m speaking! And look at me!” she yelled.

  Apparently, Ryan got what she wanted to tell him because he didn’t look annoyed by her. He said a simple “Yes, Miss Fernandez!” and went out with a fast pace.

  “Tough but fair! Bravo!” Strut congratulated her and welcomed her to walk in front of him.

  Jane stood up and with a graceful walk she moved to the exit of the ‘Mad Mouth’. She was thinking about where she was supposed to take Strut.

  “When are your men going to be ready?” she asked.

  “Couple of hours at the most!” Strut answered.

  “I would like to grab a lunch before the ride, would you mind?” Jane wanted to keep him and herself in LA for as long as she could.

  Strut agreed and they went to a restaurant near the port in Long Beach. Strut continued drinking which was lucky for Jane. Even though he got one of his security guards with him, she was able to keep him distracted and to lose track of time. Blake made him stay at that restaurant for three hours in which she managed to put the listening devices under the table and to persuade him to tell her more about the drug dealing business and the locations he used for storage. Jane was hoping Ryan went to the Station or to the FBI office and her team and Tylor were listening.

  “We have to go, Amanda, or my men will be at your place first! We don’t want that!” Strut said and his guard helped him stand up.

  Jane had no choice but to walk to the car with him and hope someone will stop them before they are too far from LA.

  Blake felt anxious and worried, she wasn’t sure if Strut’s people would check the address and realize there was no mansion but an old one story, maybe deserted, house. Blake wrote the first address which came to her mind- the house belonged to the parents of an old friend of hers.

  Blake looked around nervously before she opened the car door. She was with one leg inside the vehicle when Strut grabbed her in a choke hold and whispered in her ear “You tried to play me, bitch! But I ain’t that dumb!”

  Jane reached for the gun attached to her thigh but Strut was faster. He took it out with his free hand and threw it aside. His bodyguard was pointing his weapon at Jane. Blake couldn’t move, Strut grip was far too thigh and with a gun pointed at her it was useless to try and escape. Now she could only hope for a little bit of luck.

  “But thanks for helping me get rid of the traitor Branco.” Strut whispered “I’m sorry that I have to put a bullet in your pretty head!” he said and put the barrel of his revolver to her right temple.

  Blake was gasping for air and struggling to stop Strut's arm for tightening around her neck.

  Strut cocked the gun. Blake closed her eyes, she was ready for the shot. There was no way out, there was nobody to save her, she was there alone and she was going to be killed. The last thought in her head was about Ryan, she hoped the bikers didn’t get him too and he was safe.

  Loud ‘bang’ sounded. Jane opened her eyes out of surprise. “Am I dead?” she thought and looked around. But instead of seeing her own body on the ground, this was actually what she had expected to see, she saw Strut. He was lying motionless on the ground with a bullet hole on the side of his head. A small jet of blood was running down slowly to the back of his ear.

  Jane kneeled and reached to check his pulse, but she didn’t find one. Strut was gone for good.

  Blake searched with eyes for the guard but he was nowhere to be seen. Then Jane stood up again and looked for the source of the shot. There was no one around, at least no one she could see. Jane was puzzled but extremely happy from the turn of events.

  She took out her phone to call her team but it wasn’t necessary, they were walking towards her with huge smiles on their faces. Nick, Ian, Ryan and Hunt were approaching slowly to Jane. Blake noticed that Lee was carrying a sniper rifle on his back.

  “Jane, are you okay?!” Ryan hurried to hug her.

  “Yeah!” Jane sighted “What happened?”

  “I got back at the Station and called Smith. It turned out Branco was really working with the feds and he told them all the hiding spots Strut used to keep his product at the moment they asked. Barrett send teams to all of the locations. Meanwhile, we were listening your conversations. I was able to turn on the GPS and the listening devices in your purse remotely.” Ryan said all that in one breath. Before he could continue Nick joined in.

  “And when you made him confess almost everything he did, congrats on that by the way, we headed your way.”

  “Unfortunately, when we arrived, we saw he had a gun pointed at you.” Ian added, Jane and Ryan looked down ashamed. They both felt guilty for not telling him that his wife asked them for favor.

  “Guys, Alice told me everything!” Ian noticed their expressions “Thank you for helping her! And Jane we will get your money back!”

  “I’m not worried about that! Is Alice okay?” Jane asked.

  “She will be much better when I tell her the good news.” Ian smiled.

  “So who made the shot?” Jane gazed at all of them.

  “Lee did!” Hunt joined the conversation.

  “Nice! I didn’t know you are that good of a shooter!” Jane was pleasantly surprised.

  “Well, I spent time as a sniper in the military but the army is far too strict for me.” Nick said cheerfully.

  “Blake, I think it is time for you to go home and get some rest!” Hunt suggested.

  Blake went to her motel room and even though it was still an early evening ,she fell fast asleep. All through the night, she dreamed she was running from someone in a dark forest. She was alone with her chaser and she had no idea where she was going. At the end of the dream she fell into a deep, dark chasm and she saw Nick’s and Victoria’s faces gazing down at her with guns in their hands and ugly smiles.

  Jane woke up shaking from the nightmare. She looked through the window, it was still dark outside. Blake grabbed her phone from the nightstand on her left and checked the time. It was four in the morning. Jane knew there was no way to get back to sleep again so she decided to take a shower and to prepare a cup of coffee.

  Usually, the black liquid and the hot shower healed the morning headache and sleepiness but this time they didn’t do the magic. Jane’s migraine was getting stronger and stronger every single day.

  Blake arrived at the LAPD Station at six am and it wasn’t a surprise she was the first one of the team.

  One by one the others started arriving with puffy faces and sleepy eyes. Nobody was in a mood for conversations and it was a quiet morning until ten am. Then Hunt showed up followed by another detective.

  “Meet detective Gregory Sheffield, the head of narcotics team.” Hunt introduced the man.

  Gregory was a little bit shorter that Hunt, with dark hair, bold on top of his head, wearing suit and thin glasses which made his stern gaze more intimidating.

  “Detectives!” nodded Sheffield.

  “The narcotics team needs your help.” Hunt started “Especially, Jane’s
help. One of their people is undercover for six months trying to gather enough information on a big cartel. He came to the finish line but at that point he needs a partner.”

  “So what are we supposed to do?” asked Ian with a grimace. It was known that Homicide and Narcotics were not in best relations.

  “Well, we need Miss. Blake, if she agrees of course, to go undercover with our agent.” Sheffield turned to Jane who wasn’t listening very carefully until that statement.

  “What?” Jane narrowed her eyes.

  “Jane, nobody is making you do it but if you will, it would be a great help to the narcotics team.” Hunt joined in.

  “Yeah, okay, I’ll do it!” Jane said as if they were inviting her to lunch.

  “Wait a minute, Jane! We don’t even know what will your role be in that operation.” Ryan stood up “I think we need an explanation before you agree on anything!”

  Blake nodded in agreement and now everyone on the team were staring at Sheffield.

  “Kyle Collins, our agent, went undercover six months ago in the Alvaradoz cartel. He was able to earn their trust and to get inside the cartel’s boss close circle.” Sheffield started “But now he has to introduce his girlfriend in order Lucco Alvaradoz to let him participate in the biggest deal of the year.”

  “What should Jane do?” asked Ryan worryingly.

  “Our information is that Alvaradoz wants just to meet Collin’s girlfriend. Alvaradoz wants his people to be part of his family in order to be included in the big jobs. He wants to know every part of their lives. This way he keeps them under control with fear.” Sheffield explained calmly. “Jane must play the role of Collin’s girlfriend.”

  “I can do that!” Jane walked up to Sheffield “But first I need to get to know Kyle Collins’s character in the cartel.”

  “No.” Ryan cut.

  “No way we letting you go in there! Do you know who Alvaradoz is? His cartel is one of the biggest and most brutal in California.” Lee joined the protest.

  “Why do you need Jane anyway? Don’t you have women in your team?” Ian got suspicious.

  “We do have a trainee who is not nearly ready for that.” Sheffield explained. “And Miss. Blake has a reputation in the Department. She is one of the best, that’s why we chose her.”